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Tag: Amazon Prime Video India

  • Amazon adds Kannada OTT NammaFlix to Prime Video Channels

    Amazon adds Kannada OTT NammaFlix to Prime Video Channels

    Mumbai: Amazon Prime Video has announced the addition of Kannada video streaming service NammaFlix to Prime Video Channels. Available as an add-on subscription at an introductory price of Rs 299/year, NammaFlix is the tenth channel to launch on the platform. It offers a range of Kannada language content, from films and TV shows to short films across genres, it said.

    In the past few years, Prime Video has been building its library of Kannada content with blockbuster films like “KGF: Chapter 1,” “Roberrt,” “Yuvarathnaa,” and “Kotigobba 3.” The addition of NammaFlix will further increase the choice of Kannada content available to viewers in India.

    “At Prime Video we have worked hard to bring the best of local stories to consumers across the country, expanding the linguistic palette of the Indian video viewing customer. Over the years, we have seen an increasing appreciation for Kannada content, with viewers across the country loving Kannada films on our service,” said Amazon Prime Video India head of Prime Video Channels and Sports Chaitanya Divan.

    “We are now delighted to add NammaFlix to Prime Video Channels, so that customers who enjoy Kannada stories can watch more of what they love. We are certain that Prime Members across the country will value the easy access with add-on subscriptions to NammaFlix’s library that offers Kannada content across genres and formats,” he added.

    “Over the years, Kannada entertainment industry has evolved to offer path-breaking stories that have won the hearts of millions,” remarked NammaFlix CEO Vijay Prakash. “Through our collaboration with Prime Video Channels, we believe that consumers from across the length and breadth of the country will have easy access to discover and watch some of the most popular, local Kannada stories.”

    Besides NammaFlix, customers can also opt for add-on subscriptions of other channels like hayu, discovery+, Lionsgate Play, Docubay, Eros Now, MUBI, hoichoi, Manorama Max, and Shorts TV, available on Prime Video Channels.

  • Amazon Prime Video and MAMI launch ‘Maitri: Female First Collective’

    Amazon Prime Video and MAMI launch ‘Maitri: Female First Collective’

    Mumbai: Amazon Prime Video has partnered with Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI) to launch ‘Maitri: Female First Collective.’

    The aim of the initiative is to build a community for women in media and entertainment where they can come together on a quarterly basis to discuss their experiences, challenges and successes and offer their perspective and advice on how to bring about a positive shift, said the statement.

    The highlights of the sessions will be available on Amazon Prime Video India’s YouTube channel and MAMI’s YouTube channel and their respective social media platforms.

    The first episode featuring 16 women who participated in the debut session went live on Friday. These women include Junglee Pictures and Times Studios Originals CEO Amrita Pandey; screenwriter and hairstylist Ayesha DeVitre Dhillon; screenwriter and author Bhavani Iyer; filmmaker Gayathri; filmmaker Jeeva; screenwriter Juhi Chaturvedi; filmmaker Kunjila Mascillamani; actor and TV host Mini Mathur; filmmaker Nupur Asthana; actor and producer Richa Chadha; filmmaker Rintu Thomas; actor and producer Shweta Tripathi Sharma; comedian, actor, writer, creator, and CE-HOE founder Sumukhi Suresh; filmmaker and author Tahira Kashyap Khurrana; Amazon Prime Video head of India Originals Aparna Purohit, and artistic director of MAMI Smriti Kiran – who curated the room and moderated the discussion.

    “At Amazon, we believe that diversity, equity and inclusion, is not just needed, it is essential, and we are constantly trying to go beyond intention to institutionalize processes and mechanisms to create an ecosystem that mirrors true diversity,” said Prime Video’s Aparna Purohit. “Maitri means friendship or kinship, and the idea behind this initiative was to create a space for women to get together as friends, contemporaries and colleagues to collaborate, communicate and pave the way for others to follow.  I believe that making an impactful change takes time, and can only happen when we begin to have a conversation regularly and repeatedly. I am glad that we have taken this small, yet significant step with the help of MAMI.”

    “I have immense faith in collaboration, community building and shared experience,” said Maitri creator and curator Smriti Kiran. “It was invigorating to bring the first room for Maitri: Female First Collective together. The idea behind Maitri is togetherness. Very grateful to Aparna Purohit and Amazon Prime Video for seeing value in this vision and giving Maitri the support that it needs to soar.”

    In June last year, Amazon Studios had released the inclusion policy and playbook, which is being gradually rolled out across the organisation.

  • Prime Video Channels introduces hayu as part of its offering

    Prime Video Channels introduces hayu as part of its offering

    Mumbai: Amazon Prime Video has partnered with NBC Universal to offer its streaming service hayu to its subscribers in India as a part of Prime Video Channels. Prime members can subscribe to hayu at a price of Rs 999 per year, said the statement.

    hayu is already available through Prime Video Channels in other countries including the UK, Canada, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, and Australia.

    “Since its launch in India last year, Prime Video Channels has received a tremendous response from Prime Members who are delighted with the convenient access to a wide library of content, from multiple streaming services,” said Amazon Prime Video India head of Prime Video Channels and sports Chaitanya Divan. “Continuing with our philosophy of  working with like-minded partners who are equally invested in super-serving customers and offering them quality, consistent entertainment experience, we are excited to collaborate with hayu. hayu offers some of the most popular unscripted shows to audiences globally and their arrival on Channels in India parallels the growing consumer interest in unscripted content on our service. We are certain that our consumers will love viewing their premier reality shows.”

    hayu is a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service that offers a wide variety of unscripted shows in the English language including “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” “The Real Housewives,” “Vanderpump Rules,” “Below Deck,” “Top Chef” and “Family Karma.”

    “We are thrilled to make hayu even more accessible to Indian super fans,” commented NBCUniversal managing director direct-to-consumer – global Hendrik McDermott. “Already the premiere destination for must-watch content in 29 markets globally, we are delighted to continue our collaboration with Prime Video Channels, by adding another partnership as part of our ongoing, successful expansion strategy.”

  • India has potential to be largest OTT market in the world: Gaurav Gandhi

    India has potential to be largest OTT market in the world: Gaurav Gandhi

    Mumbai: The streaming boom has revolutionised the media and entertainment industry globally, and fuelled the creative economy of countries like India with its growing data usage. According to Amazon Prime Video India country head Gaurav Gandhi, this trend will only go upwards, and India has the potential to be the largest OTT market in the world.

    “This is because, the OTT segment in India has a huge base of consumers with an insatiable appetite for entertainment and disposable income to pursue the best experiences,” he elaborated. “Another reason is that it has a very rich pool of creators who have the power to create world-class entertainment experiences and thirdly, the deep penetration of connectivity via affordable broadband available ubiquitously across multiple devices.”

    Gandhi was speaking at the CII Big Picture Summit on Thursday, where he addressed a valedictory session titled ‘The Big Pitch: Is the Industry ready, What’s Next?’.

    Talking about the contribution of OTT Players in fuelling the growth of the media and entertainment industry, Gandhi said Prime Video is contributing to a prolific creative economy by addressing some of the most significant challenges that currently exist.

    “Amazon Prime is breaking the barrier of geographies, and addressing the challenge of reach or distribution. Today, it serves 99 per cent of pin codes of the nation and reaches 240 countries and territories across the world,” said Gandhi, adding that another barrier that it has addressed is the limitation of viewership imposed by language. “Good content travels across boundaries with subs and dubs. For example, movies in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil are being viewed by mainstream audiences, evident from the fact that 50 per cent of the viewing of different language movies in India comes from outside the home state.”

    Gandhi also highlighted how the high calibre content from India is viewed by international audiences, and OTT platforms like Prime are not just presenting India to the rest of the world, but also showcasing its rich heritage and diverse culture. “We are also bringing India closer to itself as consumers view regional content outside its home state and gain a deeper appreciation of the rich diversity of our nation,” he remarked.

    The 10th edition of the CII Big Picture Summit 2021 was held virtually on 18-19 November and brought together key stakeholders from the media and entertainment industry to discuss and deliberate on the year gone by and the upcoming opportunities and trends to foresee.

    Ministry of information and broadcasting secretary Apurva Chandra, Roy Kapur Films founder and managing director Siddharth Roy Kapur, Technicolor country head for India Biren Ghose, Zee Entertainment Enterprises president content and international business Punit Misra, Tata Sky managing director and CEO Harit Nagpal, Bennett Coleman & Co chairman – executive committee Sivakumar Sundaram, MX Player CEO Karan Bedi, and The Indian Music Industry (association) president Blaise Fernandes were among others who attended the key event.

  • Prime Video India content head Vijay Subramaniam steps down

    Prime Video India content head Vijay Subramaniam steps down

    Mumbai: Amazon Prime Video India’s director and head of content Vijay Subramaniam has stepped down, the company confirmed in a statement. Country manager Gaurav Gandhi will take over his responsibilities going forward.

    Subramaniam has been associated with the company since 2017.

    “Vijay has played a key role in Prime Video’s growth in India in this period. We are grateful to him for his valuable contributions over the last four years,” said Prime Video India in a statement. “In his content leadership role, Vijay helped forge several key creator partnerships as well as laid great focus on expanding our content selection across languages. We wish Vijay the very best for his upcoming endeavours.”

    “Director and country manager Gaurav Gandhi will continue to lead Prime Video in India and work across all teams to accelerate Prime Video’s mission to be the most-loved entertainment brand in the country,” it further said.

    Subramaniam was previously with The Walt Disney Company, India before he quit as vice president – content and communication. He joined Disney in February 2007 and was responsible for the growth of its youth channel – Bindass. During his career, he has had stints at MTV Networks India, Entertainment Network India, Star TV Network, and Magna Publishing.

    He has almost three decades of experience in the media industry across TV, radio, publishing and digital media. His expertise includes content development and creation, programming and branded content, marketing strategy and implementation, revenue optimisation and sustainable growth and team building.

  • SC favours OTT guidelines, says screening needed

    SC favours OTT guidelines, says screening needed

    KOLKATA: The Supreme Court on Thursday remarked that there should be pre-censorship of OTT content like films while hearing a plea by Amazon Prime Video India originals head Aparna Purohit. She had moved the apex court challenging Allahabad high court order denying anticipatory bail to her in connection with the Tandav controversy.

    "We are of the view that some screening of OTT content should take place,” the bench comprising justices Ashok Bhushan and S Subhash Reddy said. "In fact, some platforms even show pornography.”

    Being informed of the new rules announced by the government to regulate OTT content, the bench directed solicitor-general Tushar Mehta to place the rules on record and circulate it.

    Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Purohit, stated that it was shocking that she, neither a producer, nor an actor, has still been made an accused in the cases against Tandav. The Allahabad high court had rejected Purohit’s bail plea on 25 February, pronouncing that “…the applicant had not been vigilant and has acted irresponsibly making her open to criminal prosecution in permitting streaming of a movie which is against the fundamental rights of the majority of citizens of this country.”

    The matter will be again taken up on Friday.

    Tandav, which premiered on Amazon Prime in January this year, has been embroiled in a series of controversies. A petition was filed against the makers and actors for hurting religious sentiments by mocking Hindu deities in some scenes of the web series. They were also accused of showing the Uttar Pradesh police in bad light. Multiple complaints – including three FIRs in Uttar Pradesh – were filed against the makers of the show as well as the actors involved.

    Yesterday, Amazon Prime Video once again issued an unconditional apology for the “objectionable” scenes in Tandav, and reiterated that all such scenes were deleted or edited.

  • Tandav fills the need gap of political drama format for Amazon Prime Video

    Tandav fills the need gap of political drama format for Amazon Prime Video

    KOLKATA: As 2021 dawns, Amazon Prime Video has given a peek at its new content line up. The streaming service recently unveiled the trailer of new original series Tandav. The nine-episode political drama will start streaming on 15 January.

    Amazon Prime Video India originals head Aparna Purohit said the story of Tandav is truly rooted in our soil. “This is our first political drama. It is an interesting story about the pursuit of power and the lengths one will go to get it and in some cases keep it. It has the right doses of all the ingredients: love, hate, deceive, betrayal, suspense, and thrill,” she shared.

    The trailer of the show takes viewers behind the closed, chaotic corridors of power and politics. Set in the capital of the world’s largest democracy, the series is a gripping, fictional drama that showcases the lengths to which people go in their quest for power.

    Purohit went on to say that Prime Video has always endeavoured to tell stories that are culturally rooted, shows that can speak to the many Indias that co-exist. While the platform already has many genres in its library of original content, political drama was the only missing piece which will now be addressed by Tandav. For a nation that is so obsessed with its politics, banking on a large scale political drama was not a difficult call to take.

    “I distinctly remember when Ali (Ali Abbas Zafar, creator of Tandav) narrated the story to us in 2017. He is a very visual narrator. We felt that the story was a peek into the world that we read about in newspapers and see on the television but hardly know about in detail. It was a very easy decision to make to opt for this one. And then finally the wonderful cast came together for this show and breathed life into the characters and created all the magic. I am incredibly proud of this show and this journey that we have had,” she said.

    Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the political drama features an ensemble cast comprising Saif Ali Khan, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, Dimple Kapadia, Kritika Kamra, Gauahar Khan, Sarah Jane Dias, Sunil Grover, Dino Morea, Anup Soni, Kumud Mishra and Sandhya Mridul. The script is by Article 15 writer Gaurav Solanki.

    The official synopsis of the web series reads, “The charismatic leader of a premiere political party, Samar Pratap (Saif Ali Khan), feels he’s ready to inherit the chair of PM after his party wins the elections. Samar’s father, the party patriarch and the prime minister of the country, Devki Nandan (Tigmanshu Dhulia) is not willing to retire yet. Anuradha, Devki’s close associate (Dimple Kapadia), party senior leader Gopal Das (Kumud Mishra) are few of many other leaders considering themselves fit to sit the chair. But the chair never comes easy. A parallel story plays out with the idealistic campus activist Shiva (Zeeshan Ayub) who becomes an overnight youth icon as he shines at a political event. Shiva wants to bring about the change, sway the youth and overthrow the power pillars. Shiva gets the first taste of power. Shiva and Samar’s lives intersect as the national politics meets the campus activism. The dance of politics ensues as a series of events expose the inherent deceit, manipulation, greed, ambition and violence in all the relationships.”

  • Amazon Prime Video brings ‘Watch Party’ feature to India

    Amazon Prime Video brings ‘Watch Party’ feature to India

    KOLKATA: In the era of social distancing, most people have sorely missed the experience of watching a movie in theatres with a gang of friends. Now, Amazon Prime Video is introducing a virtual group watch feature – so even if you're alone while tuning in to your favourite show, you will no longer be lonely. The streaming giant's customers in India can enjoy Prime Video Watch Party, a native social viewing experience on desktop that is available for Prime members at no additional cost to their membership. Earlier this year, Prime Video rolled out this feature in the US.

    Customers will be able to choose from thousands of titles available in Prime Video’s SVOD catalogue, including Amazon Originals such as The Family Man, Mirzapur, Inside Edge and Made In Heaven, and award-winning and critically acclaimed global Amazon Originals including Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Boys, Hunters, Fleabag, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Borat: Subsequent Movie, among many others.

    Prime Video customers are able to host and participate in Watch Party, providing synchronised playback which the host controls, and a chat feature to communicate with participants. Watch Party will accommodate up to 100 participants per session.

    In the wake of the Covid2019 crisis, co-viewing on OTT platforms has been on the rise as a way to stay connected with friends and family, to counter a crippled social life. In India, only Netflix offers such a feature, but on third-party extension.

    How can you enjoy the experience?

    1.      Find a movie or TV show – Click on the Watch Party icon on your screen for movies. You’ll find it in the episode list for TV shows.

    2.    Enter your name – Choose the name you’d like to use while chatting. Create your Watch Party.

    3.    Invite your friends – Share your Watch Party link with up to 100 people. Your friends can join by clicking on their link.

    4.   Start watching and chatting – Once everyone is ready, start your Watch Party. The host can play, pause, and skip for the group.

     

  • Amazon Prime Video India forays into live sports with New Zealand Cricket rights

    Amazon Prime Video India forays into live sports with New Zealand Cricket rights

    KOLKATA: In its latest move, Amazon Prime Video has announced its first foray into live sports in India, with the acquisition of India territory rights for New Zealand Cricket through 2025/26. With this announcement Amazon Prime Video becomes the first Indian streaming service to secure exclusive live cricket rights from a major cricketing board.

     Under the multi-year deal between Amazon and the New Zealand Cricket Board, Prime Video will become the one-stop streaming destination for all international cricket matches to be played in New Zealand for both men’s and women’s cricket, across ODI, T20 and Tests starting late 2021. The deal includes Team India’s tour of New Zealand in early 2022, and a second tour, the dates for which will be announced later. The rights for 2020-2021 season starting later this month is intended to be syndicated by Amazon.

    The Indian men’s cricket team receives unrivalled support and unites fans across the entire country. With two highly-anticipated tours of the Indian team to New Zealand, over the next 6 years, cricket fans in India are in for a treat! The New Zealand men’s cricket team, also known as the Black Caps, enjoys world-wide popularity and is ranked No.3 in ODI and No. 2 in Test Cricket by the International Cricket Council.

    “Over the last few years Amazon Prime Video has become the go-to destination for world class entertainment in India – be it our Amazon Original Series or the biggest blockbuster movies across languages,” Amazon Prime Video director & country general manager Gaurav Gandhi said.

     “We are excited to add India’s most loved game – Cricket – to our content selection for our Prime Video customers, and we are thrilled to work with New Zealand Cricket on this endeavor as they have a strong, passionate and much-loved cricket team, and the cricketing rivalry between the two countries has been fantastic. We are happy to make this collaboration with New Zealand Cricket our first live sport offering in India, and are confident that our Prime members will be delighted with this initiative,” Gandhi added.

    “This partnership with Amazon Prime Video is massive for NZC – we’re delighted and proud to be teaming up with such a famous and successful brand. As we’ve said before, the future of live sport is streaming and in Amazon Prime Video we have a partner right at the center of the industry; innovative, trend-setter and well-known for putting fans and subscribers first,” New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said.

    “One of NZC’s key goals is to extend our teams’ global reach and to build closer relationships around the world and, in terms of that particular objective, we don’t think we could be in better hands. India has always been important for viewership of NZC; no other country follows cricket like India, so it’s exciting to be announcing this agreement with India’s leading streamer,” he added.

    The Indian territory New Zealand Cricket rights package is the latest in Prime Video’s growing line-up of live sports around the world including Thursday Night Football, the Premier League, ATP Tour Events, WTA, the US Open (tennis), UEFA Champions League, Autumn Nations Cup (rugby), and the Seattle Sounders FC. Fans can also subscribe to streaming services such as Eurosport, MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, and PGA TOUR LIVE through Prime Video Channels. This in addition to a selection of popular docuseries for sports fans, including The Test: A New Era for Australia’s Team, which follows the Australian men’s cricket team during the 2018/2019 season, and Emmy-winning Amazon Original All or Nothing, among many others.

  • Brands go creative for 2020 mood calendar meme trend

    Brands go creative for 2020 mood calendar meme trend

    NEW DELHI: If people could borrow something from Harry Potter this year, it would probably be the time turner. Who wouldn’t want to go back and undo the year 2020 or stop COVID2019 from crippling the world?

    But since Muggles can’t do that, they must make do with the memes. Social media never backs out from coming up with a new challenge every now and then. This time, a new challenge is keeping netizens busy – 2020 mood of the month.

    It all started when celebrity Reese Witherspoon shared a meme capturing the many moods people felt in the year. Captioned “Yup. #2020,” Witherspoon’s Instagram post garnered over 1.4 million likes, showing just how deeply the meme resonated with people. It was widely shared and appreciated by netizens. From Priyanka Chopra, Mindy Kalang to many celebrities followed the trend but how can brands lag in the trend race?

    Many OTT players and entertainment brands leveraged this opportunity and came up with their own memes resonating with their audiences. Brands too tried to showcase the mood of the people in the year 2020. Here are some brands who decided to join the bandwagon:

    1. Sony Pix India:

    2. Sony Liv:

    Seems legit

    A post shared by SonyLIV (@sonylivindia) on

    3. Kotak Mahindra Bank:

    Sony Sports: https://www.facebook.com/SonySportsIndia/posts/3205422396209857

    5. South Africa Tourism:

    6. Warner Bros. Tv

    7. Netflix India:

    8. Amazon Prime Video India:

    moodposting ft. @bajpayee.manoj

    A post shared by amazon prime video IN (@primevideoin) on

    9. Alt Balaji:

    When will this calendar end? #ALTBalaji @sufisoul

    A post shared by ALTBalaji (@altbalaji) on

    10. MTV Beats: